Embodiments of the inventive concept relate generally to electronic memory technologies. More particularly, embodiments of the inventive concept relate to nonvolatile memory devices and techniques for managing open blocks in nonvolatile memory devices.
Semiconductor memory devices play a significant role in a wide variety of consumer and industrial technologies ranging from home computers to satellite equipment. Consequently, improvements in semiconductor memory technology can have a significant impact on the performance of numerous technical applications.
Semiconductor memory devices can be roughly divided into two categories based on whether they retain stored data when disconnected from power. These categories include volatile memory devices, which lose stored data when disconnected from power, and nonvolatile memory devices, which retain stored data when disconnected from power. Examples of volatile memory devices include dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static random access memory (SRAM). Examples of nonvolatile memory devices include read only memory (ROM), ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), and flash memory.
Flash memory has achieved widespread popularity in recent years due to its attractive cost, performance, storage capacity, and durability. As the demand for flash memory has continued to grow, researchers have made continual improvements to flash memory devices. Among these improvements is the development of flash memory devices that can store multiple bits of data per memory cell. However, as the number of bits per memory cell increases, it becomes more difficult to ensure the reliability of stored data.